Wednesday, 13 February 2013

Archaeologists are worried! Can they protect the Tomb?

Can
they keep treasure hunters away from what some of them believe is an estimated
$1,000,000,000,000(one trillion dollars at today’s prices) in treasure?

In
an article from Newser-“Everyone from archaeologists to grave robbers have been
seeking Genghis Khan's tomb for the past 800 years—and now a team of techies
from California may have found it, Newsweek reports. Using satellites, radar
scans, and thousands of volunteers, Albert Lin's crew at the University of
California in San Diego have built 3-D reconstructions of a large underground
structure in northwestern Mongolia. But they won't dig it up, despite legends
of the vast treasure Khan acquired as ruler of an empire stretching from the
Pacific to the Caspian Sea. “We do not want to excavate the site,” says Lin.
“We believe it should be protected as an UNESCO World Heritage site."

The
first question is have they really found the tomb? Here’s why they think so.
Newsweek reports- "They were rewarded with the thrilling discovery of arrowheads,
ceramics, roof tiles, and bricks, suggesting human activity in the remote,
uninhabited area. “When we extended the search area and looked more closely, we
identified hundreds of artifacts scattered on the surface. We knew there must
be something significant there,” says Fred Hiebert, archeology fellow with
National Geographic and one of the other principal investigators on the
project.

When
they carbon-dated their finds, the results were exciting and full of promise,
seeming to fit around the time of Genghis’s life and death. “Material dating of
some samples indicates 13th- and 14th-century origins, though the full analysis
of data is still underway,” says Hiebert.”

If
I were them I’d be doubtful. However,
the publicity that they have received will undoubtedly attract legions of
thieves to their site. This easily could be the gravesite of one of Genghis
Khan’s four sons! Follow